A ROADMAP FOR RURAL BROADBAND:

ccSCOOP SPEAKS WITH ED HEMMINGER, THE ARCHITECT OF ONTARIO COUNTY'S GROUNDBREAKING FIBER-OPTIC PROJECT


William Parker
Director, ccSCOOP

April 24, 2011

ccSCOOP:  As Ontario County Chief Information Officer, you've made possible what I and many, many others in Columbia County and upstate New York who are without adequate broadband service can only dream about: the creation of a fiber optic loop around Ontario County. How did it come about?

ED HEMMINGER:  Long story. It started over 10 years ago when I became involved with Economic Development. We identified telecommunications as essential to support our economic development technology-led strategic plan. We did a number of studies culminating with a draft business plan which identified the solution as building a dark fiber network around the county - connecting police, fire, education, municipalities and business locations county-wide.

In 2005, the Ontario County Board of Supervisors authorized the creation of a local development corporation to build, own and maintain the network. Since then we have built - and have operational - 200 miles of middle mile infrastructure. This is the core of future public-private partnerships that have and will provide the services to the business community and eventually the residents.


ccSCOOP: Fiber! Tell us what fiber-to-the-home ultimately means.

HEMMINGER: Fiber-to-the-home is an alternative infrastructure to the phone and cable lines you have today to most homes. Fiber has the capability of much faster speeds and the capacity to support future residential needs such as streaming HD content, gaming, advanced Internet applications, etc.   Today a few companies offer fiber-to-the-home, the most notable would be Verizon’s FIOS product.


ccSCOOP:  What reaction did you get from people (and politicians) when you started talking about the need for broadband in Ontario County?

HEMMINGER: I have found that after a person hears about the needs and benefits of fiber for the third time, they start to understand. This is a difficult concept to grasp as the private sector has provided the vast majority of our telecommunications needs forever. The need now exceeds the private sector’s return on investment model thus the need for public participation in the telecommunications infrastructure business. Once the citizens and politicians understood the issues and solution, they have been fantastic supporters.


ccSCOOP: Who was the first to want to get involved and who, in turn, followed suit?

HEMMINGER: We started some local groups with the Chambers of Commerce but basically the County took the lead and provided the mass education for the need and project. Our local independent telecommunications provider also supported the project from day one. This was very important to the success of the project.


ccSCOOP: New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli seemed to focus on the pitfalls of public/private partnerships when he talked of them at the beginning of the year. What's your reaction?

HEMMINGER: We did not sell off a state/county asset. The county provided funding support to allow the not-for-profit public benefit corporation to build, own and operate this infrastructure. I do not believe his comments reference anything we have done or will do.

ccSCOOP:  You've served as President of NYSLGITDA (The New York State Local Government Information Technology Directors Association). What is the organization's outreach to counties that are still without adequate information technology?

HEMMINGER:  The NYSLGITDA is a fantastic resources for County and Local IT Directors and CIOs. We have a very active Listserve and hold two very cost effective conferences each year that bring together state and local CIOs/IT Directors to discuss their issues, projects, IT trends and solutions. One of the best organizations I have been involved with in my 39 plus years in the business.

LINKS/NOTES:

govtech.com - Private - Public Partnerships

Fierce Broadband Wireless/North Carolina

Stop the Cap!

Axcess Ontario Officially Complete | Community Broadband Networks

Ontario County, N.Y. Fiber Provider Wants Every Resident to Have Fiber-to-the-Home Service



EDITOR'S NOTE

In 2006, following the same basic concept as was successfully implemented in Ontario County, Columbia County's own non-profit broadband initiative, Communities Connecting, (www.communitiesconnecting.org) successfully rallied for federal and state funds to finance a similar fiber-loop broadband infrastructure locally.

By 2008, the promised earmark funding through the office of then-Congresswoman Gillibrand never materialized, causing the group to disband.